If your Spanish is above par then the 31st Guadalajara International Film Festival from Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 13 offers a huge variety of movies to enjoy. Not only films from Latin America and Spain, but also other European nations and Japan, subtitled in Spanish. For those whose la...

A chorus line of nuns, dressed in full clerical garb, kick off the Lakeside Little Theatre (LLT) musical for Season 51. “Nunsense,” one of off-Broadway’s biggest successes, ran for 3,672 performances from 1982 to 1993. By the time it closed it had been translated into 21 lang...

Last chance to enjoy fantastic musicians at the Northern Lights Festival de Febrero at the Broken Hearts and Madmen featuring the Gyphon Trio with vocalist Patricia O’Callaghan. The concert is Friday, March 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Auditorio de la Ribera. Tickets are available at t...

Straight-laced lawyer Jason goes on a road trip to Daytona Beach with his horndog grandfather Dick, who was recently widowed and is eager to party hard on spring break now that he’s a single man. Along the way, Dick prods Jason to let loose and have fun, and tries to convince him that he shoul...

The remarkable true story of the most daring rescue mission in the history of the Coast Guard. On February 952, a massive nor’easter struck New England, pummeling towns along the Eastern seaboard and wreaking havoc on the ships caught in its deadly path, including the SS Pendleton, a T-2 oil t...

I recently camped at Balneario el Rincón, a waterpark near Teuchitlán, with several friends who are into birdwatching. One of them approached me, while I was setting up my tent, with a large printed announcement.

The “jefe” of the Curiel family took away the pistol twelve-year-old Lena Curiel was carrying. Toño Curiel wasn’t surprised his adopted daughter had the weapon. He wasn’t angry at her. But he quietly swore at whoever gave the loaded weapon to her.&nbs...;

In a recent conversation a friend of mine used the expression “two nines” in referring to the fact his most recent round of golf had been played on a nine-hole golf course and he had done two nines to complete his eighteen-hole round. “Two nines” is also an expression f...

It’s sooooo slooooow! A couple of weeks ago I warned readers that this was a complaint I frequently hear from clients about their computers and that I was sure to have more to write on this topic than would fit into one column.

There wasn’t a band playing “The World Turned Upside Down” (Yorktown 1781) but such musical accompaniment wouldn’t have seemed out of place Tuesday night as the outcomes of the New Hampshire Democratic and Republican primaries became clear.

When the Spanish arrived in the Western Hemisphere, they recorded that the Aztecs viewed all flowers as gifts of the gods. The ancients in this area cultivated the red star-shaped cuetlaxóchitl (flower with leather petals) as an offering to their supreme diety – the god of the sun &ndas...;

There’s a time and a place for Costco. And sometimes a trip to Superama is a good place to walk the aisles – particularly if you’re looking for yellow cheese. But given the choice, I pick one of my little neighborhood groceries every time.

I see her every Tuesday and Thursday when I take my grandson to soccer practice. She stands on the corner waiting for the light to change so she can pass through the line of stopped cars offering candies from a small basket that she holds close to her chest.

More than a dozen bands from all over Mexico will descend on a Zapopan neighborhood when the “Verbena de la Musica Nuestra” (Carnival of Our Own Music) takes over the charming plaza of Atemajac del Valle Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28.

The U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara Wednesday held a celebration to honor Guadalajara’s Instituto Mexicano Norteamericano (IMN), an institution that has been teaching English to Mexican citizens for 67 years.

In the presence of U.S. Consul General Tayna Anderson, the Instituto Cultural Mexico Norteamericano (ICMN) presented their Educational and culture Merit Medal to Raul Padilla, the long-serving president of Guadalajara’s International Book Fair and Int...

Chanting HU, an ancient name for the Divine, while in a contemplative state, is a simple technique to open your heart to greater happiness, love, inner peace and understanding. Join in Saturday March 5, 10:30 a.m., at the Center for Spiritual Living located at Nicholas Bravo 17, Ajij...

The Culinary Arts Society of Ajijic (CASA) Award Banquet and 30th Anniversary bash held March 1 at Roberto’s Restaurant was a hit. (L-R) CASA President Monica Molloy and Lorraine Keefer presented Rick Feldmann, the top winner of the 2015 Bing Award (three first places in a calendar yea...

As aspiring writers well know, authoring a book is one thing, getting it published is another.

An opportunity to bridge that gap will be offered at the Puerto Vallarta International Writers Conference at Bibioteca Los Mangos March 6-8. Evelyn Bryne of White Bird Publications will be attending to gi...

La Catalina Foundation’s 12th annual fundraiser was once again an enjoyable success. The entertainment committee outdid themselves this year with song and dance. The town square was filled with supporters who were treated to not only to performances of ...

If you were to ask that question to persons in the United States or Canada, more than half would answer thus: “A group of men in tight black outfits playing ‘La Cucaracha’ on their guitars and trumpets.”

It is all about fun, food and friendship at the 7th Annual Duckaton Fundraiser for SETAC (Solidaridad Ed Thomas A.C.) You’ll enjoy live entertainment, food, open bar, and great prizes all for a good cause.

Dime como hablas y te dire quien eres (Tell me how you talk and I’ll tell you who you are) is a popular Mexican dicho (saying) that aptly underlies, from a proverbial viewpoint, the difference in the use of language between Mexicans and foreigners.

It’s a glorious feeling as you swim into the beautiful secluded beach of the Marieta Islands (Islas Marietas). As you pass under a rocky arch in the island there is a moment when the tide turns in your favor and washes you gently towards the sandy shoreline. It is as if the island has deemed y...

Discount airline Volaris will connect Guadalajara with San Jose, Costa Rica, with two direct weekly flights, beginning September 10. The flights will leave Guadalajara on Thursdays and Sundays at 7:20 a.m., returning the same days at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are already on sale on the airline’s...

If a Mexicana were to open a “diner” in Ajijic, Josy’s would be it. The building construct even has the shape of what we expats know as the classic compact diner, long and rectangular. (Note: Early 20th Century food-service trucks or wagons with “walk-up” windows took p...

Although the 40-day period of Lent is meant to be a time of penance and fasting, one of the guilty pleasures of the season is savoring the wonderful culinary specialties Mexican cooks whip up only at this time of year.

Robert Bruce Drynan of Ajijic is the author of “Domain of the Scorpion” (2009), a thriller set in Colombia and Venezuela and Panama, that introduces several characters we meet again in his latest novel, “The Shadow of Nemesis,” set largely in Mexico. “Domain of the Scor...

Elias Iñiguez Mejia, the president of the Health Committee in the Jalisco Congress, is pushing for a statewide campaign to disseminate the risks posed by out-of-date medicines, as well as their correct disposal.

A sweeping operation to enforce regulations in Guadalajara bars and nightclubs has led to the closure of seven establishments. Bar Americas, one of Jalisco’s most popular and iconic nightlife destinations, was forcibly closed after 87 pills and 92 packets of white powder were discovered in the...

The state of Jalisco has the highest rate of identity theft in the country, according to data collected by the Guadalajara College of Certified Public Accountants (CCPG). There were 30,000 cases reported in 2015 out of a total of 92,000 complaints reported in the whole of Mexico. This represents a r...

Mexico’s Education Secretary Aurelio Nuño has insisted that his decision to fire 3,360 teachers “is irrevocable.” The teachers were let go because they failed to attend mandatory evaluation tests, which were part of sweeping reforms introduced by President Enrique Peñ...

Mazatlan is the music mecca of Mexico, or at least that’s the word around town. You can see signs of it everywhere, from banda, Mexican ballads, mariachis, and the sweet sound of Jazz and blues, rock, folk, country and classical music.

The holidays are quickly approaching. To help make your holiday a little bit brighter – and shopping for friends, family and neighbors a little easier – our team has compiled a list of holiday events and creative gifts ideas that give back to the communit...

Leopoldo Seifert, Juan Varela and Yanic Gentry shared honors as co-winners of the first annual Copa Porsche sailing regatta held last weekend at Chapala’s Club de Yates. The three young Jalisco-born athletes racked up equal scores to tie for the championship title.